Gold and Silver Extend Losses, 1 oz Bullion Coins Rise

U.S. bullion prices closed mixed Wednesday, with gold, silver and platinum extending their losses after the metals plunged during the prior session. Palladium managed a modest gain, however.

Gold futures prices for February delivery fell $5.10, or 0.4%, to $1,373.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Comex gold futures closed weaker but off the daily low Wednesday as the market saw follow-through selling pressure from Tuesday’s strong losses. A stronger U.S. dollar and some better U.S. economic data helped to pressure the precious metals Wednesday," wrote Jim Wyckoff of Kitco News.

"A strong pre-employment report ADP jobs growth estimate helped to boost the U.S. dollar index higher Wednesday as the dollar bulls are regaining upside technical momentum this week. This is a bearish underlying factor for the precious metals markets. The better U.S. economic data and rallying U.S. stock market are luring away the safe-haven investment demand for gold as investor risk appetite has increased recently."

Gold prices reached their lowest point at $1,364 an ounce. That was the weakest price since mid-December. The intraday high came in at $1,385.20.

In other New York futures prices, March silver ended down 31.0 cents, or 1.1%, to $29.198 an ounce and April platinum fell $13.30, or 0.8%, to $1,734.10 an ounce. As mentioned, palladium was the single precious metal to rise. It gained $6.25, or 0.8%, to settle at $775.30 an ounce.

In other bullion news, United States Mint gold and silver bullion 2011 American Eagles launched Monday, January 3. The United States Mint does have quantities of 2010 gold and silver eagle coins still in inventory so a portion of the sales (to date) this year include those as well. The 1 oz bullion eagle coins showed improvement on Wednesday, as the following table illustrates:

January 2011 US Mint Bullion Coin Sales

January 2011

Daily Gain

2011 Totals

1 oz American Gold Eagle

13,500

5,000

13,500

1/2 oz American Gold Eagle

0

0

0

1/4 oz American Gold Eagle

0

0

0

1/10 oz American Gold Eagle

5,000

0

5,000

American Silver Eagle

2,085,000

389,000

2,085,000

Figures above are in coins, not ounces of gold sold.

In earlier bullion prices, the London PM gold fixing price was set to $1,368 an ounce, marking a decline of $20.50, or 1.5%, from the previous PM fixing of $1,388.50. The silver Fix came in at $29.21 for a loss of $1.46, or 4.8%.

In London PGM metals prices, palladium fell $30, or 3.8%, to $754 and platinum declined $31, or 1.8%, to $1,722.